Invincible
by The Dark Crimson Blood
Summary: Luffy wasn't invincible, Ace learns this the hard way. AU World Today Series #6


**Title**: Invincible  
><strong>Words: 1,182<br>****Characters**: Ace, Luffy**  
>Genres<strong>: Angst, Tradgety  
><strong>Author<strong>: The Dark Crimson Blood  
><strong>Summary<strong>: Luffy wasn't invincible, Ace learns this the hard way. AU World Today Series #6

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><p>Ace doesn't know how it happened.<p>

He just doesn't understand.

It's confusing.

_Unacceptable_.

At sixteen years old, Portgas D. Ace absolutely loved his younger brother Luff. The child seemed to be able to light up any bad day and had a smile brighter than the sun, in Ace's opinion. The young child was born early after only four months, so he was born tiny and small and weak. Ace couldn't help but worry about the boy who was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. The doctors told him that he wouldn't survive any longer than three months, if that. As time passed, Ace didn't believe them. There was no way in hell that his little brother was going to die off after only three months on earth. To everyone's surprise, Luffy completely surpassed everyone's expectations and lives. Far longer than anyone had expected, even the doctors were surprised with his development.

Luffy's alive, and Ace couldn't be happier.

At the tender age of five, Luffy was a clumsy child. With messy tussles of black hair that fell around his head like a mop that needed to be replaced, it would constantly grow long enough to cover his eyes and take away bits and pieces of his vision without it. His hair was cute, no one wanted to cut it. Not even Ace. With or without hair covering his eyes, Luffy would constantly be found tripping over his own two feet as if they weren't his own. He'd walk into things he didn't see and slip over the sturdiest of surfaces. Ace thought it was funny how Luffy constantly managed to get caught within a mess of blankets each and every morning, unable to get out without help. It was adorable. Everything about Luffy was adorable, though Ace wouldn't admit it out loud.

Luffy was only five years old, after all.

Invincible, through Ace's eyes.

Looking past the surprisingly large amount of clumsiness, Luffy was just like any other child. He loved to learn; Ace loved the way his eyes would light up when he was happy, or the way they'd sparkle with fascination at the discovery of new toys or sights he hasn't yet seen. For a child as small and skinny as Luffy was, he loved to eat. It was surprising and absolutely amazing how Luffy could inhale so much food in one sitting repeatedly, without gaining a pound of weight.

Luffy had so much to see, so much to learn, so many things to try.

Somehow, Ace becomes attached to the child. Rather, it wasn't as if he had just gotten attached to him. It was as if he had been attached to Luffy his entire life and had only just realized it now. Ace couldn't imagine a day without Luffy's childish antics, laughs and smiles. Hell, Ace knew enough about the child to write an entire book about him. Every sentence detailed greatly and written down on paper with a smile. How Luffy's favorite color was red, how his favorite food was a variety of any and every piece of meat that existed, and how the tiny child absolutely loved pirates. Ace felt as if he knew Luffy as well as he knew the back of his own hand. Other times he felt as if Ace knew so much about Luffy, it was at the point that he knew Luffy more than he knew himself. Ace knew he never had to be jealous of other people who loved Luffy, because Ace would always be his favorite.

Luffy was Luffy. It was as simple as that.

Luffy wasn't invincible.

Ace learned this the hard way.

All in all, it was a normal day. The sky was clear and the sun was shining just like any other day, and just like any other day Ace waited for his little brother to come running out of the school doors with a smile on his face and his arms spread wide. Luffy was always excited to see him. Ace is always excited for it; yet he fegined nonchalance as he played on his phone, sneaking a couple of peaks towards the school doors as he waited. Suddenly there he was, bursting out of the doors and running past all the other children. At the sight of Ace, waiting for him across the street, he smiles. Just as expected. His tiny legs run across the crosswalk, and the only thing he sees and concentrates on are the big pair or arms that are undoubtedly waiting for him on the other side.

He doesn't make it across.

A car moving far too fast looks like it's flying down the street, completely ignoring the 'watch out for children' sign as it goes. All of a sudden, it slams into Luffy and Ace can't stop it. At that moment, a large range of emotions runs through Ace's system. He can't name them. His brain isn't working as well as he wants it too. It takes a minute to successfully progress the information that he just doesn't want to accept. He doesn't want to accept it. The sight of his brother's limp figure lying, disfigured, in the middle of the road. The sight of a car that had skidded to the side and the driver with his head in his hands. The sight of a woman 911.

Ace doesn't want to see any of it.

Luffy's not doing anything. He's not laughing or smiling or moving and for the first time in years, if not his entire life, Ace is scared. Terrified. Speechless. Broken. All because his brother isn't moving. Ace finds his voice and lets out a soft, broken yell. He runs over to his brother and drops to his knees, reaching towards the child with shaking hands that never touch the little boy in front of him. Bloody and broken. Ace wants to be sick at the sight of the disfigured little boy Ace doesn't want to recognize. He wants to ask him why he's lying on the ground, they were supposed to be going for ice cream. Or anything else. So, he shouldn't be lying on the ground. His mouth shouldn't be wide open and his eyes shouldn't be closed like that.

There's no pulse.

He's not breathing.

For the first time in five years, he realizes that Luffy is not invincible.

He's dead.

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><p><strong>In the world today, speed limits are ignored.<strong>

**The World Today Series #6**

**Merry Christmas.メリクリスマス**

**I haven't updated in a while. I hope you enjoyed. Leave a review (*´ω｀*)**

_**-The Dark Crimson Blood**_


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